The coal industry has been and continues to be of critical importance for China's economic modernization. With its huge labour force, country-wide infrastructure, and vital strategic importance for the economy, the industry presents special problems for reformers, and epitomises the problems of reform in the state industrial sector as a whole. This book examines the changes in the structure and operation of the Chinese coal industry from the mid-19th century to the present, concentrating on the years of reform. Although the focus is on the economics of the industry, the book also provides many insights into China's socio-political development.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203221656

The most important step in social science research is the first step - finding a topic. Unfortunately, little guidance on this crucial and difficult challenge is available. Methodological studies and courses tend to focus on theory testing rather than theory generation. This book aims to redress that imbalance. The first part of the book offers an overview of the book's central concerns. How do social scientists arrive at ideas for their work? What are the different ways in which a study can contribute to knowledge in a field? The second part of the book offers suggestions about how to think creatively, including general strategies for finding a topic and heuristics for discovery. The third part of the book shows how data exploration may assist in generating theories and hypotheses. The fourth part of the book offers suggestions about how to fashion disparate ideas into a theory.

"Can science be funny?" takes a close look at an element of modern science communication that is as innovative as it is promising for the future: comedy! Readers are guided through vividly presented academic theory as well as exciting hands-on and best practice examples from renowned practitioners and cabaret artists: - What do sheep's cheese and car tires have in common? - Can laughter break down walls? - How does "Die Anstalt" work? - How does magic create knowledge? - Is there humor in museums? - When a Dalmatian comes to the cash register - Three steps to humor - Serving suggestion for the Holy Spirit - dictatorship of stupidity - And much more! But it's not all just funny. Comedy can also take away some of the biting sharpness of criticism, making it digestible, even palatable, for the addressees. "Can Science Be Funny?" navigates between criticism and cabaret, tackling comedy in various guises from different perspectives. 22 contributions show how the results of science, research and technology can be brought to the general public in new ways. In particular, they also demonstrate how humour can be used as a critical and questioning force - valuable for all types of communication and helpful so that they come across more shrewdly in the future.

This is the first book to examine war and violence in Sri Lanka through the lens of cross-cultural studies on just-war tradition and theory. In a study that is textual, historical and anthropological, it is argued that the ongoing Sinhala-Tamil conflict is in actual practice often justified by a resort to religious stories that allow for war when Buddhism is in peril. Though Buddhism is commonly assumed to be a religion that never allows for war, this study suggests otherwise, thereby bringing Buddhism into the ethical dialogue on religion and war. Without a realistic consideration of just-war thinking in contemporary Sri Lanka, it will remain impossible to understand the power of religion there to create both peace and war.

Add to your knowledge of Latino/Hispanic diversity, attitudes, behaviors, and experiences to provide more effective services Latino-Hispanic Liaisons and Visions for Human Behavior in the Social Environment dispels pervasive historical and contemporary misconceptions and inaccuracies and highlights the diversity of Latino/Hispanic experiences to help you provide more effective services to those clients. As editors Torres and Rivera point out, "Literature on Latinos/Hispanics reflects a dysfunctional and myopic cultural view in which they are often depicted in stereotypic characteristics and as a homogenous population." In Latino-Hispanic Liaisons and Visions for Human Behavior in the Social Environment, you'll find chapters examining: the social ecology of Mexican-American child development caregiver well-being among Cuban and Puerto Rican mothers of mentally retarded adults the adjustment process among Cuban refugee families one Southwestern community's efforts to create a multiethnic neighborhood coalition against substance abuse a study of changes related to migration, family, and work in Caribbean women's lives and much more

This insightful book shows you how to deal with an issue as old as the library profession: interacting with problem patrons. It looks at this fact of life that affects almost every facet of library work and provides practical solutions--some developed within the field and some borrowed from other professions--that will improve reference services for those you serve and make the work of your library staff less stressful, more productive, and increasingly meaningful.Helping the Difficult Library Patron: New Approaches to Examining and Resolving a Long-Standing and Ongoing Problem examines: the nature of the problem from historical and demographic perspectives ways of dealing with the problem in academic and public libraries competency-based training techniques that will empower your frontline staff the impact of new technologies such as cellular phones and the Internet and ways of dealing with the new breeds of difficult patrons that come with them solutions from our colleagues what we can learn from the perspectives of others--psychotherapists, businesspeople, and corporate managers--you even get a Zen Buddhist viewpoint! effective ways to utilize community resources such as campus and local police and much, much more! Nowhere in the library literature have so many practitioners and educators combined their efforts to examine and provide solutions to this ageless problem. Library administrators, staff, and educators will find Helping the Difficult Library Patron a matchless resource!

This insightful book shows you how to deal with an issue as old as the library profession: interacting with problem patrons. It looks at this fact of life that affects almost every facet of library work and provides practical solutions--some developed within the field and some borrowed from other professions--that will improve reference services for those you serve and make the work of your library staff less stressful, more productive, and increasingly meaningful.Helping the Difficult Library Patron: New Approaches to Examining and Resolving a Long-Standing and Ongoing Problem examines: the nature of the problem from historical and demographic perspectives ways of dealing with the problem in academic and public libraries competency-based training techniques that will empower your frontline staff the impact of new technologies such as cellular phones and the Internet and ways of dealing with the new breeds of difficult patrons that come with them solutions from our colleagues what we can learn from the perspectives of others--psychotherapists, businesspeople, and corporate managers--you even get a Zen Buddhist viewpoint! effective ways to utilize community resources such as campus and local police and much, much more! Nowhere in the library literature have so many practitioners and educators combined their efforts to examine and provide solutions to this ageless problem. Library administrators, staff, and educators will find Helping the Difficult Library Patron a matchless resource!

W.E.B. Du Bois shaped 20th century America to an extent rivaled by few others. The first black to receive a Ph. D. from Harvard, he helped create the discipline of sociology and was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Martin Luther King, Jr. called Du Bois 'a gifted discoverer of social truths.' But until now little academic attention has been paid to his insights on religion or to how religious commitments shaped his views of race, rights and justice. Phil Zuckerman here gathers together Du Bois's writings on religion, and makes a compelling case for Du Bois to be recognized among the leading sociologists of religion. Du Bois on Religion includes selections from his well-known works such as The Souls of Black Folks to poems, prayers, stories and speeches less widely available. Brief, helpful introductions preface each of the twenty-six selections. Also, a general introduction traces Du Bois's move from church-attending Christian to relentless critic of religion and evaluates Du Bois's contributions to the study of religion. Du Bois on Religion is an important text for sociologists or for anyone interested in the history of race and religion in the United States.

This highly controversial and topical book provides the first full, balanced account of how Iraq cheated the UN inspectors on disarmament, and how the US manipulated and infiltrated the UN inspection teams and other staff to gather intelligence on Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Aimed at the general reader, it follows and assesses the role of Saddam Hussein, who became president of Iraq in 1979 and shows no sign of relinquishing office.
Dilip Hiro, an experienced journalist who has written extensively on the region, provides a historical and accessible perspective to the relationship between Iraq and Iran, and examines the consequences of internationally significant events such as the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran about a year after the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Providing a full account and analysis of events in Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, he contrasts the continuing totalitarianism under Hussein with the evolution of the political-religious system in Iran and the development of its internal politics.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203303199

This compact but complete guide shows that less is more—with fewer extraneous details getting in the way of students trying to learn on the run, it allows them to focus on the most important principles of effective technical communication. The Concise Guide takes a rhetorical approach to technical communication; instead of setting up a list of rules that you should apply uniformly to all writing situations, it introduces students to the bigger picture of how the words they write can affect the people intended to use them. Assignments and exercises are integrated throughout to reinforce and test knowledge.

Outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics are nothing new. Over the last several decades, we have been through numerous—Zika, Ebola, H1N1. The COVID�19 pandemic, however, has challenged us like never before. During this time, we have struggled to work remotely, to balance work and children’s school schedules, and to manage finances in the face of lost or furloughed jobs. We have worried about our loved ones getting sick and being able to support themselves, and we have faced the loneliness that comes with social distancing. It has affected us individually and globally—but we have not all experienced this pandemic in exactly the same way. Some communities have been hit harder in terms of sickness and death rates from COVID�19. Many have felt the economic pressures of the pandemic more acutely. Still others have struggled disproportionately with the mental health impacts. Context has mattered in this pandemic. There is one common thread that runs through everything we have experienced though: the role that communication has played in managing this pandemic. Whether we are talking about communication about the virus and mitigation strategies, communication between friends and family, the urgent crisis resulting in mis- and dis-information, our complex and diffuse media environment, or new workplace communication strategies, communication has been front and center in this pandemic. The role of communication has been integral to the success and failure of our ability to respond and adapt to and begin to recover from this pandemic—as individuals, collectively as communities, and as countries. As a result, issues such as preparedness, misinformation, literacy and comprehension of virus and vaccine science, health equity and mental health have all gained increased awareness during this time. This book unpacks the many and varied roles that communication has played over the course of this pandemic, in order to help public health professionals, marketers and health communicators, and policymakers alike to understand what we have been through, what has worked well, and what we have struggled with. It will help us learn from our experiences, so we communicate through pandemics more successfully in the future.

More than sixty friends and colleagues pay tribute to the distinguised professor Jnos M. Bak's 70th birthday.

Provides a framework for teaching undergraduate writing courses with an interdisciplinary focus on health literacy Valuable text for writing instructors across composition, technical communication, health humanities, and writing in the health professions programs, and assignable as a text for pedagogy courses or health-focused courses in these areas Chapters feature research and case studies on the implementation of health literacy approaches in a variety of contexts including specific assignments, full programs, and online teaching

This book is the first monograph fully devoted to analyzing the philosophical aspects of affordances. The concept of affordance, coined and developed in the field of ecological psychology, describes the possibilities for action available in the environment. This work offers a systematic approach to the key philosophical features of affordances, such as their ontological characterization, their relation to normative practices, and the idea of agency that follows from viewing affordances as key objects of perception, while also proposing an innovative philosophical characterization of affordances as dispositional properties. The Philosophy of Affordances analyzes the implications that a proper understanding of affordances has for the philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences, and aims to intensify the dialogue between philosophy and ecological psychology in which each discipline benefits from the tools and insights of the other.

Basic semiotic theories are taught in most art schools as part of a contextual studies program, but many students find it difficult to understand how these ideas might impact on their own practice. Visible Signs tackles this problem by introducing key theories and concepts, such as signs and signifiers, and language and speech, within the framework of visual communication. Each chapter provides an overview of a particular facet of semiotic theory, with inspiring examples from graphic design, typography, illustration, advertising and art to illustrate the ideas discussed in the text. Creative exercises at the end of the book will help exemplify these ideas through practical application. The fourth edition of Visible Signs includes new imagery and updated exercises, as well as coverage of propaganda, diversity in ‘neutral’ communication (like emojis), and issues related to social media representation.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Many of Soren Kierkegaard's most controversial and influential ideas are more relevant than ever to contemporary debates on ethics, philosophy of religion and selfhood. Kierkegaard develops an original argument according to which wholeheartedness requires both moral and religious commitment. In this book, Roe Fremstedal provides a compelling reconstruction of how Kierkegaard develops wholeheartedness in the context of his views on moral psychology, meta-ethics and the ethics of religious belief. He shows that Kierkegaard's influential account of despair, selfhood, ethics and religion belongs to a larger intellectual context in which German philosophers such as Kant and Fichte play crucial roles. Moreover, Fremstedal makes a solid case for the controversial claim that religion supports ethics, instead of contradicting it. His book offers a novel and comprehensive reading of Kierkegaard, drawing on important sources that are little known.

What is the future of the university? The modern university system, created in the late 19th century and developed across the 20th century, was built upon the notion of disciplinarity. Today the social, epistemological, and technological conditions that supported the disciplinary pursuit of knowledge are coming to an end. Knowledge production has itself become unsustainable: we are drowning in knowledge even as new PhDs cannot find work. Sustainable Knowledge explores these questions and offers a new account of what is at stake in talk about 'interdisciplinarity'. Sustainable Knowledge develops two themes. First, it offers an account of contemporary knowledge production in terms of the concepts of disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and sustainability. Second, it reconceives the role of philosophy and the humanities both within the academy and across society. It argues that philosophy and the humanities must reinvent themselves, taking on the Socratic task of providing a historical and philosophical critique of society.

"Word from the Mother" presents a definitive statement on African American English from the hugely respected linguist, Geneva Smitherman; and her message is clear: black American speech enriches, rather than undermines, general American English.
Written with flashes of African American language throughout, the work gives an overview of past debates on the speech of African Americans, and provides a vision for the future. Demonstrating the stark contrast between the perceptions of the language from those outside the community, with the views of African Americans, the author explores the relationship between language and race, and the reflection of gender in language practices.
From her discussion on rhyme and rhetoric in the black speech community, to the summary of African American idioms and expressions, Geneva Smitherman argues that 'bilingualism' is necessary for all Americans if they are to take their place in the global village.
Including cartoons, poetry and hip hop lyrics which humorously illustrate her argument, Word from the Mother is a an essential read for students of African American English, language and culture and sociolinguistics, as well as the general reader interested in the worldwide adoption of black popular culture.

The story of western correspondents in Russia is the story of Russia’s attitude to the west. Russia has at different times been alternately open to western ideas and contacts, cautious and distant or, for much of the twentieth century, all but closed off. From the revolutionary period of the First World War onwards, correspondents in Russia have striven to tell the story of a country known to few outsiders. Their stories have not always been well received by political elites, audiences, and even editors in their own countries—but their accounts have been a huge influence on how the West understands Russia. Not always perfect, at times downright misleading, they have, overall, been immensely valuable. In Assignment Moscow, former foreign correspondent James Rodgers analyses the news coverage of Russia throughout history, from the coverage of the siege of the Winter Palace and a plot to kill Stalin, to the Chernobyl explosion and the Salisbury poison scandal.

Youth Without Family to Lean On draws together interdisciplinary, global perspectives to provide a comprehensive review of the characteristics, dynamics, and development of youth (aged 15-25) who have no family to lean on, either practically or psychologically. In this timely volume, Mozes and Israelashvili bring together leading international experts to present updated knowledge, information on existing interventions, and unanswered questions in relation to youth without family to lean on, in pursuit of fostering these youth's positive development. The various chapters in this book include discussions on different topics such as social support, developing a sense of belonging, parental involvement, and internalized vs. externalized problems; on populations, including homeless youth, residential care-leavers, refugees, asylum-seekers, young women coming from vulnerable families, and school dropouts; and interventions to promote these youths' mentoring relationships, labor market attainment, out-of-home living placements, use of IT communication, and participation in community-based programs. Additionally, various problems and challenges are presented and elaborated on, such as: Who needs support? Who is qualified to provide support? How should related interventions be developed? The book takes a preventive approach and aims to emphasize steps that can be taken in order to promote young people's positive development in spite of the absence of a family to rely on in their life and examines the best practices in this context, as well as the international lessons that deserve further dissemination and exploration. This book is essential reading for those in psychology, sociology, public health, social work, law, criminology, public policy, economics, and education and is highly enriching for scholars and practitioners, as well as higher education students, who wish to understand and help the gradually increasing number of youth who are forced, too early, to manage their life alone.

What's a theoretical framework for? How do you effectively present your data in a figure? What's the secret to a good presentation? As an interdisciplinary student, you delve into theories and research methods from a whole range of disciplines. Academic skills are the tools that you can use to take in, develop, integrate and question knowledge. This guide provides specific instructions, tips and examples to help students develop these skills, both during and after their studies. As academic education focuses on research, the empirical cycle forms a key theme of the book, including when discussing the following skills: - Searching for, critically reading and analysing scholarly texts - Formulating research questions - Making concepts measurable, qualitatively and quantitatively - Organizing literature and data - Analysing and formulating an argument - Academic writing - Collaborating - Reflecting - Presenting

Andy Blunden presents an immanent critique of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, the psychology originating from the great Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934). Tracing the roots of this theory from Goethe, Hegel and Marx, Andy Bluden draws out the principles with which Vygotsky developed a theory of the mind, in which he overcame and transcended the problems of mind-body dualism.

Grade inflation runs rampant at most colleges and universities, but faculty and administrators are seemingly unwilling to face the problem. This book explains why, exposing many of the misconceptions surrounding college grading. Based on historical research and the results of a yearlong, on-line course evaluation experiment conducted at Duke University during the 1998-1999 academic year, the effects of student grading on various educational processes, and their subsequent impact on student and faculty behavior, is examined. Principal conclusions of this investigation are that instructors' grading practices have a significant influence on end-of-course teaching evaluations, and that student expectations of grading practices play an important role in the courses that students decide to take. The latter effect has a serious impact on course enrollments in the natural sciences and mathematics, while the combination of both mean that faculty have an incentive to award high grades, and students have an incentive to choose courses with faculty who do. Grade inflation is the natural consequence of this incentive system. Material contained in this book is essential reading for anyone involved in efforts to reform our postsecondary educational system, or for those who simply wish to survive and prosper in it.

Valen Johnson is a Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan. Prior to accepting an appointment in Ann Arbor, he was a Professor of Statistics and Decision Sciences at Duke University, where data for this book was collected. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.

- The first book that collects an international range of accomplished practitioners and academics together to share their innovative photography practices - Written in a clear and accessible style, ideal for students and practitioners - Uses tangible examples and relatable practices that can inspire or be extrapolated into the reader's own practice - Visually rich with 150 full colour images demonstrating a diverse set of practices.